http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Stereotactic needle biopsies are an established standard procedure in the diagnostic identification of brain lymphomas and certain brain tumours (gliomas). Up until now the tissue samples removed had to be examined for tumour cells in the neuropathology department whilst the operation was underway. In addition, several biopsies were often necessary to achieve diagnostic reliability and these involved several tissue extractions. With the 5-ALA fluorescence marker the correct place to make the extraction for the tumour biopsy, and thus the precise diagnosis, can be confirmed immediately in the operating theatre. This is demonstrated by a current study at the University Department of Neurosurgery of the MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital. To do this scientists are getting brain tumours to glow. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-scientists-brain-tumours.html Cancer Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:30:21 EST news286018211 The plaque deposits in the brain of Alzheimer's patients are surrounded by the brain's own immune cells, the microglia. This was already recognized by Alois Alzheimer more than one hundred years ago. But until today it still remains unclear what role microglia play in Alzheimer's disease. Do they help to break down the plaque deposit? A study by researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now shed light on these mysterious microglia during the progression of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-brain-immune-cells-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:41:19 EST news284899271 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University of Bristol have revealed new insight into the function of a key protein attributed to impaired learning and memory in Down's syndrome. The findings, published online in Nature Cell Biology, offer further molecular insight into how the reduced level of this key protein termed 'sorting nexin-27' [SNX27] may contribute to learning and memory problems associated with Down's syndrome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-potential-insight-complex-neuropathology-syndrome.html Medical research Mon, 08 Apr 2013 07:17:38 EST news284624248 A team of European scientists from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD) at the University of Cologne in Germany has taken an important step closer to understanding the root cause of age-related dementia. In research involving both worms and mice, they have found that age-related dementia is likely the result of a declining ability of neurons to dispose of unwanted aggregated proteins. As protein disposal becomes significantly less efficient with increasing age, the buildup of these unwanted proteins ultimately leads to the development and progression of dementia. This research appears in the March 2013 issue of the journal Genetics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-age-related-dementia-neurons-inability-dispose.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:06:41 EST news281721974 Scientists from the University of Southampton have identified the molecular system that contributes to the harmful inflammatory reaction in the brain during neurodegenerative diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-scientists-molecular-potential-treatments-neurodegenerative.html Neuroscience Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:42:01 EST news280658504 Administration of the active compound tetrahydroxystilbene glucoside (TSG) derived from the Chinese herbal medicine Polygonum multiflorum Thunb, reversed both overexpression of α-synuclein, a small protein found in the brain, and its accumulation using a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. These results, which may shed light on the neuropathology of AD and open up new avenues of treatment, are available in the current issue of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-herbal-compound-potential-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Sat, 16 Feb 2013 01:17:39 EST news280199842 Pathological changes typical of Alzheimer's disease were significantly reduced in mice by blockade of an immune system transmitter. A research team from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the University of Zurich has just published a new therapeutic approach in fighting Alzheimer's disease in the current issue of Nature Medicine. This approach promises potential in prevention, as well as in cases where the disease has already set in. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-alzheimer-disease-mice-alleviated-therapeutic.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Sun, 25 Nov 2012 13:00:14 EST news273067537 Rapamycin, a drug used to prevent rejection in transplants, could delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This is the main conclusion of a study published in the Nature in which has collaborated the researcher Isidro Ferrer, head of the group of Neuropathology at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Bellvitge University Hospital and Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Barcelona. The research was led by researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste (Italy). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-immunosuppressive-drug-onset-neurodegenerative-diseases.html Neuroscience Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:56:17 EST news269517365 The different effects on memory processes by chronic alcoholism and HIV infection likely reflect the specific neuropathology associated with each condition: frontocerebellar dysfunction in alcoholism and frontostriatal dysfunction in HIV infection. A study of the separate and combined contribution of injury related to chronic alcoholism and HIV infection has found they differently affect the processes involved in procedural learning and memory of visuomotor information. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-alcoholism-hiv-infection-effects-visuomotor.html Addiction Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:00:02 EST news262268380 Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) at the University of Barcelona (UB) have coordinated a research into how the IDPN nitrile causes neurological syndromes similar to those of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a severe neuromuscular degenerative disease. The study, led by Jordi Llorens, has been recently published in Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-poisoning-industrial-compounds-similar-effects.html Neuroscience Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:54:33 EST news261748463 Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers have succeeded in developing a biosynthetic polyphenol that improves cognitive function in mice with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The findings, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, provide insight in determining the feasibility of biosynthetic polyphenols as a possible therapy for AD in humans, a progressive neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-biosynthetic-grape-derived-compound-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 03 May 2012 03:40:01 EST news255232671 (HealthDay) -- Childhood socioeconomic status affects hippocampal volume in older adults, after adjusting for adult socioeconomic status, gender, education, and other factors, according to a study published in the May issue of the Annals of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-childhood-socioeconomic-status-affects-brain.html Neuroscience Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:30:01 EST news254747343 The findings of a new study suggest that the protective effects of an active cognitive lifestyle arise through multiple biological pathways. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-brain_1_2.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:12:35 EST news254567541 Teasing out the exact type or types of dementia someone suffers from is no easy task; neurodegenerative brain diseases share common pathology and often co-occur. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are continuing efforts to differentiate diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), as FTLD is often clinically difficult to distinguish from atypical presentations of AD. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-range-diagnostic-spinal-fluid-differentiate.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:40:01 EST news254140199 A research team led by Glenn Rall at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA developed a novel mouse model to show that a fatal central nervous system (CNS) disease can be caused by a pathogen that does not replicate in the CNS. The results of this new study are published December 22nd in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-concomitant-immune-result-cns-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:24:11 EST news243800644 In the largest study of brain development in preschoolers with autism to date, a study by UC Davis MIND Institute researchers has found that 3-year-old boys with regressive autism, but not early onset autism, have larger brains than their healthy counterparts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-boys-regressive-autism-early-onset.html Neuroscience Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:00:14 EST news241714219 (Medical Xpress) -- The possibility that anesthesia and surgery produces lasting cognitive losses has gained attention over past decades, but direct evidence has remained ambiguous and controversial. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania provide further evidence that Alzheimer's pathology may be increased in patients after surgery. The new research is published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-alzheimer-biomarkers-patients-anesthesia-surgery.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:24:22 EST news236935432 If you are pregnant, here's another reason to work out: you will reduce the chances of your new baby developing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, later in life. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal shows that mice bred to develop a neurodegenerative disease roughly equivalent to Alzheimer's disease showed fewer signs of the disease and greater brain plasticity later in life when their mothers exercised regularly than those whose mothers did not exercise. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-pregnant-women-offspring-long-term-neurodegenerative.html Health Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:50:45 EST news236249413 Medulloblastomas constitute the most frequent class of malignant childhood brain tumor. Tumors of this type arise due to the uncontrolled proliferation of immature nerve cells in the developing brain, and there is no targeted treatment available. A research team based at LMU's Center for Neuropathology and Prion Research and led by Privatdozent Dr. Ulrich Schüller has now demonstrated that the regulatory protein FoxM1 is essential for the continued growth of these tumor cells. Moreover, the level of FoxM1 expressed in the cells is significantly, and negatively, correlated with a patient's survival time. The protein therefore provides a useful prognostic marker, which should allow oncologists to gauge the malignancy of tumors and select the most effective therapeutic strategy for the individual patient. Furthermore, FoxM1 may provide a novel point of attack for the development of new ways to treat the condition. Schüller and his team were able to reduce FoxM1 levels in tumor cells by exposing them to the antibiotic siomycin A, and showed that the drug also inhibits tumor growth. "If further work on laboratory cell cultures and in living organisms confirms these results, siomycin could turn out to be an effective drug for the treatment of medulloblastoma," Schüller says. (Clinical Cancer Research, published Online First 14.September 2011) http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-pediatric-brain-tumors-regulatory-protein.html Cancer Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:28:17 EST news235650471 In one of the first studies of its kind, UCLA researchers used a unique brain scan to assess the levels of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles -- the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease -- in adults with Down syndrome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-brain-scan-patterns-plaques-tangles.html Neuroscience Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:00:12 EST news227199214